Latest data on world mineral production now available

Since 1913, BGS and its predecessor organisations have complied annual production and trade statistics on a wide range of mineral commodities. In the latest volume, World Mineral Production 2020–2024, BGS sets out the production figures by country for more than 70 mineral commodities over the five-year period from 2020 to 2024. The new volume also includes a ‘treemap’ visualisation for the first time, showing the global quantity of metals and ores produced in 2024.

Summary and trends

In 2024, conflict and political and civil unrest in several regions of the world continued, making it challenging to obtain mineral production data for some countries. China’s introduction of new export restrictions also limited the global availability of certain commodities, including antimony, bismuth, gallium, germanium, indium, molybdenum, tellurium and tungsten.

During 2024 several commodities experienced a significant decrease in their production volume:

• mercury production has been decreasing for a number of years: although China is still the largest single producer, its output has decreased, and Mexico has reduced its mercury production by 95 per cent over five years
• antimony, which is widely used as a fire retardant in plastics and textiles and is crucial for batteries, semiconductors and solar panels, saw its production decline by 16 per cent over the past five years and by almost 11 per cent in 2024 compared to 2023
• global production of tungsten, which is vital in creating ultra-hard tungsten carbide for cutting tools, drills and wear-resistant machinery, decreased by eight per cent in 2024 and by 12 per cent during the last five years

Despite this, production of a few commodities increased globally between 2020 and 2024:

• production of those minerals vital for batteries and energy storage systems, including cobalt, nickel and lithium, all increased in 2024, while lithium production has increased by 208 per cent, cobalt mine production by 103 per cent and mined nickel by 53 per cent over the last five years
• chromium, which is essential for the stainless steel industry, saw production increase globally by 15 per cent in 2024 and by 42 per cent over the past five years
• uranium production has responded to more favourable market conditions and increased demand for nuclear energy, with production increasing globally by 13 per cent in 2024 and by 29 per cent over the past five years

International interest

International interest in the security of supply of minerals continues to grow. Since its launch in 2022, the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre (CMIC), hosted by BGS, continues to guide decision making and research on critical raw materials, with increasing focus on those required for the clean energy transition. CMIC has also produced a number of notable publications, including the UK 2024 Criticality Assessment and demand foresight studies.

Previous volumes

Previous editions of World Mineral Production can be found on the Minerals UK website. The information is compiled from a wide range of sources including government departments, national statistical offices, specialist commodity authorities, company reports and a network of contacts throughout the world.

Contact

For more information please contact Naomi Idoine.